Bank of America pledges to retain and pay staff throughout 2020

Bank of America Corp. said it won’t cut any jobs this year as a result of the coronavirus, and is helping clients affected by the pandemic through increased commercial lending to companies and expanded forbearance for Main Street customers.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender has hired 2,000 people this month and is shifting more than 3,000 employees to new roles in its consumer and small-business divisions to deal with the crisis, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg. The moves include internal and external hires.

“We don’t want our teammates to worry about their jobs during a time like this,” said Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan.

Bloomberg

“We don’t want our teammates to worry about their jobs during a time like this,” Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan said in a CNBC interview Friday. “And we’ll continue to pay everybody, even those who can’t work from home.”

Bank of America joins U.S. lenders Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, along with European counterparts including HSBC Holdings, in pledging to preserve jobs amid the widespread impact of the coronavirus. The banks are seeking to reassure their employees as the pandemic roils markets and raises the prospect of deep losses industrywide.

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